One Flew over the Cuckoo's nest.How does Kesey present McMurphy's growing influence on the ward and hint at the novel's conclusion in the passage 'the vote is closed'...'crazy as loons' (p162-5)?

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Michael O’Neill

How does Kesey present McMurphy’s growing influence on the ward and hint at the novel’s conclusion in the passage ‘the vote is closed’…’crazy as loons’ (p162-5)?

This passage focuses on McMurphy obtaining the deciding vote from the Chief on watching the ‘ball game’ and then the patients watching the ‘blanked out TV’. It is crucial in the plot of the novel because it shows the first successful communal resistance against the nurse, but is also, I think, one of the more subtly written sections of the book.

We can start to gauge Mac’s growing influence by looking at the Chief’s reaction to him. Bromden first comes into the passage as McMurphy tries to gain the last vote. The Chief’s hand is described initially as moving inexorably on ‘hidden wires’. This is highly reminiscent of his description of the Combine – e.g. machines ‘hidden in the walls’ – and hints, I think, at a truth the Chief is unwilling to admit (shown by the retraction of his statement: ‘No, that’s not the truth.’): that Mac’s growing influence seems very much like that which the Nurse (previously the controller of the ‘hidden’ machines in the wall) has lost. McMurphy appears to be turning into his nemesis. I think that this shows, through the Chief’s inherent aversion to authority, just how much Mac has. Very interestingly, Bromden describes McMurphy as ‘standing over me in the mist’. This cannot be in a physical way, since the Chief is exceptionally tall, but relates, I think, to the way the Chief describes size as a product of authority (his father ‘shrunk’ as his mother ‘grew’ when their village was sold). Kesey shows us Mac’s influence even through the nuances of the Chief’s narrative.

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McMurphy’s influence on the other patients forms the greatest part of this passage. He is described as ‘reach’ing and ‘grab’bing through the mist for them. These are both active verbs, showing his move towards the patients and the basis for his influence being treating the individual as something intrinsically worthwhile. At the same time ‘grab’ suggests an element of desperation and violence, showing that Mac’s influence is unstable and has a definite degree of force in it, albeit in a benevolent, charismatic, and well-meaning way. However we also see (indeed we just witnessed in the preceding passage) just how ...

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